Founded on the principles of ensemble collaboration and artistic risk, AlterTheater Ensemble is also committed to new works and local artists.

AlterTheater Ensemble is committed to being a creative problem-solver for challenges in our community, and finding ways for theater to address the needs of our citizens. We wish to not just be a professional theater company, but to be a resident company of San Rafael.

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Who Are We?
We are professional theater artists who have worked at most of the theaters in the Bay Area, including American Conservatory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Magic Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival. When bridge tolls and gas costs rose, we said, hey, let's create an opportunity to work on our own side of the bridge!

Born and educated in New Zealand, Ann Brebner has lived in California since 1953 and has spent her life working in film or theatre.  Trained as a director at London’s prestigious Old Vic Theater, she has directed for the stage in England, New Zealand, Rhode Island, New York and the Bay Area. She is the co-founder of the Marin Shakespeare Company, directing frequently for them. Until 1981 she was the president of Brebner Agencies Inc., in San Francisco representing actors and screenwriters in the motion picture industry. She has worked as a casting director, written three screenplays, and authored a book on the skill of living a creative life in a left-brained world, Setting Free the Actor, published in 1991. More recently she has headed the drive to restore the Rafael Film Center in San Rafael as the permanent home of the California Film Institute, which produces the Mill Valley Film Festival.  For the Rafael Film Center Project she was the chair and the project manager. She has completed her second book, All My Mothers, a memoir of those who formed her life. A member of the AlterTheater Ensemble, Ann co-directed, with Frances Lee McCain, the Bay Area premiere of Sex Parasite in AlterTheater's Inaugural Season.

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Keely Madden* has had one-act plays performed in New York for the Stage Two Festival at Manhattan Theatre Source, the Turnip Festival at American Globe Theatre (Producer’s Choice for Best of the Festival, 2003), New Perspectives Theatre and Expanded Arts.  In San Francisco, Keely was a recipient of the 2004-05 Tournesol Residency.  She has had readings of two full-length plays (Z-space Magic Mondays and at AlterTheater).  She was part of Playground’s Writers Pool for 2003 and 2004.  She has studied with Eduardo Machado and was part of the Writer’s Workshop at the Westbeth Theatre Center with Tony Howarth.

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Benjamin Privitt last appeared with AlterTheater in Smorgasbord of Shorts II ("Cuddle Time" and "Lorraine"). Benjamin's first AlterTheater work was in the first Smorgasbord of Shorts festival: he played Jon in "Tape" and a lost British tourist in "The Virgins of Dry Springs", a world premiere by Kristina Goodnight. Also in San Rafael, he appeared in the world premiere of The Secret Order at Theatre Artists of Marin. He has worked with the California Shakespeare Festival, Shotgun Players, The Chamber Theatre of San Francisco, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Center Rep, Women in Time, NCTC, and TheatreWorks. He has been featured in the documentary Rediscovering the Labyrinth and the short film “In God's Name,” which was a recent selection at the Bumbershoot Film Festival. He served as Dramaturg for the Bay Area premiere of Jessica Goldberg's Sex Parasite, and is a past Literary Manager of AlterTheater.

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An award-winning equity actor, Michael Ray Wisely* has performed with Marin Theatre Company in Visions of Kerouac, Fugitive Kind, and Misalliance. Other Bay Area credits include work at Berkeley Rep (Heartbreak House), Aurora Theatre (The Birthday Party), Magic Theatre, San Jose Repertory Theatre, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, San Jose Stage Company, American Musical Theatre, Center REP, and Pacific Alliance Stage Company, among others. Michael Ray has also co-starred in a remake of Hitchcock’s shadow of a doubt and a number of television series and movies. Michael Ray is a member of the AlterTheater Ensemble.

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Brian Thorstenson’s plays include: “Heading South” (The Studio at Theater Rhinoceros The 450 Geary Theater, Berkeley Art Center, Bay Area Critic Circle Nominee), “Summerland” (2000 Bay Area Playwrights Festival, 2000 Z Space Festival of New Performance, Wings Theatre Co., NYC, published in “the anthology “Plays and Playwrights 2002”.), “Over The Mountain” (2003 Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Z Magic Monday, Tournesol Residency) and “Half-Light Dances” (Z Magic Mondays, Playbrokers) . His radio adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’ “It Can’t Happen Here” was broadcast nationally on the Pacifica Radio Network. He is currently working on a new play for CentralWorks, a collaboration with Stephen Pelton Dance Theatre, and a short play about baseball for the Z Space Studio. Brian is a lecturer at San Francisco State University and Santa Clara University. He received a B.A. in Theater from Willamette University, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. He lives in San Francisco.

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Mark Routhier has had his plays developed, workshopped, and/or produced in Aspen, CO, Burlington, VT, Chicago, and San Francisco. He has directed in the Bay Area for Encore Theatre (The Bone Man of Benares, 70 Scenes of Halloween), Mettle Theatre (someguy, Drunken Grownups, Iphigenia and Other Daughters), Mostly Grounded Theatre Company (Cowboy Mouth), and American Citizens' Theatre (Exit The King). He is a recipient of the Playground Emerging Playwrights Award for his play Spotter that premiered in the Best of Playground Festival. He recently directed a workshop of Eisa Davis’s Bulrusher for SF Stage & Film. He dramaturged Lucy Thurber's Monstrosity for Encore Theatre, and Mike Geither’s Stars Fell All Night for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival. He is the Literary Manager and the Sloan Initiative Program Coordinator at Magic Theatre where he has directed workshops for New Voices West, several readings for Magic Theatre's Raw Play Series, and for the NNPN Showcase. He received his MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU.

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Jeanette Harrison has lived in San Rafael (on and off) for eight years. She has worked in theater administration, as a director, and as an actor on stage, on-camera, and off-camera. She has worked with Aurora Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Magic Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Theatre Rhino, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Actors Theatre of Sonoma County, Sonoma County Rep, Golden Thread Productions, Woman’s Will, Playhouse West, and Combined Art Form Entertainment (C.A.F.E.), among others. Also a voiceover actor, she recently recorded the voices of 2 characters in San Rafael-based Habitat Media's current project, The Lost Art of Tea Tossing. Jeanette is a founding member of the AlterTheater Ensemble.

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Tahzay Mikkael is a visual artist and designer. In the theater, his work has been seen in San Francisco with Combined Art Form Entertainment (C.A.F.E.). In addition to his design credits, his theater skills include box office & house management. His photography can be seen at www.fineartfirst.com. Tahzay is a member of the AlterTheater Ensemble.

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Ken Sonkin* has been acting and directing for the past 20 years with such companies as A.C.T., Berkeley Rep, Sonoma Rep, Center Rep, Marin Shakespeare, Pacific Alliance Stage Company, The B Street Theatre, Pacific Resident Theatre Ensemble, Pennsylvania Centre Stage and the Denver Center Theatre Company. He holds a BFA in acting from Ohio State and is also a graduate of A.C.T.’s masters program. Some of his favorite directing projects include: Sleuth, Flowers for Algernon, Tartuffe, The Long Goodbye, Always... Patsy Cline, The Crucible, Lady House Blues, An Evening of William Saroyan, A Southern Christmas (world premiere), Female Transport, ‘Art’, Moon Over Buffalo, On Golden Pond, The Foreigner, Golf With Alan Shepard, Incorruptible, and The Subject Was Roses. He has taught at such institutions as A.C.T., The National Theatre Conservatory, Northwestern University, Stanford University, Cornell College, Solano College, and The Pacific Actors’ Conservatory. He spent three years as the director of The Theatre Artists Institute, the professional actor training program for The American Musical Theatre of San Jose, and served as the artistic director of The Regency Center in San Francisco. Ken is a founding member of the AlterTheater Ensemble.

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Frances Lee McCain* is an award winning Bay Area actor/director who began her 39-year career in Play It Again, Sam on Broadway and originated the off-Broadway role of Carol in Lanford Wilson’s Lemon Sky. She has starred in many regional theatres, including all the major Bay Area houses. Frances is known nationally for film and television roles which include Gremlins, Footloose, Back to the Future,Stand by Me, and Patch Adams. She has also been a member of the acting company and core faculty at ACT, taught at CSU Fresno, and guest lectured at Ripon College (where she received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts in 1986). Ms. McCain received a Post Graduate Diploma at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London and a Master’s degree in Psychology/ Drama Therapy at California Institute of Integral Studies. In recent years Frances has devoted herself almost entirely to new work in the theater, initiating The Los Alamos Project at the Z Space Studio where she is an Associate Artist, and appearing in and directing new plays at the Magic Theater and AlterTheater. She was most recently seen as Marion in the Encore/Shotgun Players production of Shaker Chair by acclaimed playwright Adam Bock.

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Jayne Wenger is a director and dramaturg whose exclusive focus is on original material. Throughout over 25 years of professional theater experience she has been dedicated to the development, direction and production of original plays and solo performances. Her work has been recognized with numerous awards. She is the past Artistic Director of the Bay Area Playwrights Foundation (1995-2000) and was the Artistic Director of Women’s Ensemble of New York for eight years. She has developed the emerging work of acclaimed playwrights such as Naomi Izuka, Nilo Cruz, Anne Galjour, Holly Hughes, Brighde Mullins, Deke Weaver, Brenda Wong Aoki and Kate Bornstein, among many others. She has collaborated with Claire Chafee on numerous projects, including the original direction of the world premiere of Why We Have a Body at the Magic Theater. She is currently collaborating on projects with Deborah Slater, of Art of the Matter, and Liebe Wetzel, of Lunatique Fantastique. She teaches annual workshops on Play Development and Directing New Works at The Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez, Alaska and at ArtWorkshop International in Assisi, Italy.

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